Connet Systems, a leading mobile development company has in partnership with three of South Africa's major retail banks acquired the capability to process debit card payments from any mobile phone.
"This is a game changing development" says Brendan White, CEO and Founder of Connet Systems. "For the first time now we can interact and process payments securely on over 22 million debit cards in South Africa."
The process is simple. Using Connet System's class leading Connet2U aggregation platform customers can dial a USSD service code that activates the payment platform. Unregistered customers then enter their 16 digit debit card number on their phone and the payment application will link their cell phone number to their debit card. This registration process is only necessary once. After the customer has confirmed the transaction, an encrypted SMS is sent to their cell phone requesting their ATM PIN number. The customer enters the PIN number which is also encrypted on the cell phone and is sent to the bank for the transaction to be processed.
It is important to note that the process is 100% secure and at no point can the customer's PIN number be intercepted or viewed by anyone; not even the engineers at Connet Systems, the mobile networks or the banks.
The transaction cannot be repudiated by the customer eliminating the risk of charge backs for the merchant.
The list of transactions possible is endless. Customers can purchase airtime without needing internet banking, informal merchants can process transactions, content can be purchased and any manner of transaction can now be processed efficiently, cheaply and securely. This technology turns every cell phone in South Africa into a potential point-of-sale device.
Connet Systems currently process over 100 million USSD sessions per month and count some of South Africa's most prominent companies as customers. For more information contact Frank de Graaf on frank(at)connet-systems.com.
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